The offer you can't refuse

Issue 

Claude is one of the many thousands of Telecom workers who took separation packages in 1993 as the telecommunications giant downsized. He says it was a voluntary choice in a way, "But if you don't jump, they push you".

Management decided how many workers it wanted to get rid of and asked for volunteers. A redundancy formula had been negotiated with the union.

Claude says that not all those who volunteered got packages. "They asked for names, then they selected."

He volunteered because of work pressure, fear of losing his job anyway, uncertainty about constant changes and lack of a real say at work. "In such a big corporation you are just a number. Once you are no use to them, they put you in the scrap bin."

He says he did not think much about the consequences because at that stage "you just want to get out. You hope for the best."

After three years, he finds that he is financially worse off and suffers from boredom and added family stress. He misses work and the friends and contacts that come with it. He says his chances of finding other work are "zilch".

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